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SAN JOSE (KCBS) – In San Jose, gun sales appear to be skyrocketing. By some estimates, gun sales in San Jose have as much as quadrupled in recent months.

“We sold three or four hundred guns in the last few weeks,” said Mike Fournier of The Gun Exchange in San Jose. His customers are citing two reasons for buying guns: police layoffs and the rise in crime.

More than 60 San Jose police officers have jobs at other police agencies since a recent pension reform measure made the city’s police salaries and benefits less competitive.

“More and more single women are buying guns than they ever have in my over 30 years’ experience in this business,” Fournier told KCBS.

“Just recently, in our neighborhood, someone tried to break in and luckily it was a young boy who was home sick and he grabbed his dad’s unloaded gun, called 911, grabbed the gun and pointed it out the window and the three guys trying to break in took off,” recounted a woman who identified herself as Joan, who was at The Gun Exchange buying ammunition.

She said she, like many of her friends, felt the need to arm herself with a weapon.

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